"Yer a wizard, Harry."
Thunder crashed and lightning flashed as 11-year-old Harry Potter stared at the giant sitting on the sagging sofa in front of him. The storm raged on before Harry found the courage to numbly ask, "I'm a what?"
"A Wizard. And a thumpin' good 'un too, I'd wager. Once you've been trained up a bit." Hagrid told him, a smile lighting up his gruff yet kind face. Harry wasn't sure what to make of this news. Being a wizard seemed impossible, yet Hagrid, sitting in front of him, exuded a sense of truth and magic. As the storm continued to rage outside, Harry's mind raced with the possibilities of this new world he was being introduced to.
"But I'm not a," Harry began. "A wizard. I'm just Harry."
Just Harry sounded good as he tried to focus on the slight scoff that escaped Hagrid's lips before Hagrid leaned forward and whispered, "You may not believe it now, but did you ever make anything happen when you were angry or scared?"
Harry wanted to deny it, but the look Hagrid was giving him told him he wasn't imagining things. Hagrid nodded as Harry just stared and sat back, causing the sofa to groan under the weight shift. Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley were in a corner, watching as Harry tried to make sense of what he'd been told.
"So, 'Just Harry'," Hagrid searched his pockets before he pulled out a familiar-looking envelope and handed it to him. "Did you?"
A single nod from Harry had Hagrid smiling widely before he pulled out an umbrella and pointed the tip at the dark fireplace and the crumpled-up bags of crisps within. A warm feeling spread over Harry as he turned to see that there was now a fire roaring on the stones, crackling and casting a comforting glow around the room before his attention was captured by the letter.
Harry J. Potter
The Floor
The Shack-on-the-Rocks
The Sea, England.
Flipping the letter over, Harry saw a green wax seal with what looked like a coat of arms in the centre. In each of the four sections were a lion, a serpentine, an eagle, and a badger. Licking his lips, Harry slipped a thumb in between the gap of the seal and broke it, nerves wracking his body as he lifted out the letter and opened it, noticing that the paper was heavier than regular. He read,
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster:Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorceror., Chief. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted atHogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
The term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Noticing that there was another part, he pulled that out and skimmed over it before looking back up to Hagrid, who nodded and said, "It's not every day you learn about something like that, Harry."
"He will not be going." Uncle Vernon spoke up, coming around the sofa and standing beside Harry. "We swore when we took him in, we'd put a stop to all that nonsense. Magic indeed."
"You knew?" Harry asked, looking at the people who took him in, "You knew all along, and you never told me?"
Petunia couldn't keep quiet as she scoffed and came out of the shadow of the dimly lit room. "But of course, we knew. How could you not be? My perfect sister being who she was. Oh, my mother and father were so proud the day she got her letter. 'We have a witch in the family. Isn't it wonderful?' But then she met that Potter, had you and Daniel. And I knew the two of you would be the same, just as strange, just as abnormal. And then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up, and we got landed with you. As for Daniel, who knows where that little freak ended up. For all we know, he could have died that night as well."
The letter was slowly lowered to Harry's side as he listened to his aunt's rantings; the only emotions he seemed to feel were shock and horror at the way his aunt spoke of his parents.
"B-blown up? Brother? You told me my parents died in a car crash!" Harry seemed to whisper before looking at Hagrid, who made a disbelieving sound.
"A car crash killed Lily and James Potter?"
"We had to tell him something," Petunia told Hagrid. Dudley seemed to find his courage to come forward and take away a forgotten box, his eyes bugging out at the sight of a cake lying within as Hagrid shook his head.
"I suppose a muggle like yourself is going to stop him? This boy's had his name down for Hogwarts since he was born. He's going to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world, and he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen, Albus Dumbledore." Hagrid said sternly. Harry's mind was reeling as he tried to process this new information, feeling a mix of grief and anger bubbling inside him.
"Muggle?" Harry looked to Hagrid confused as the giant replied off-handedly, "Non-magic folk."
"He will not be going to any school run by some crackpot old fool and learning magic tricks." Vernon said, his voice final as Petunia nodded beside her husband, agreeing, "I'll not be having it, nor will I be paying."
Hagrid's reaction was immediate as he brought out the umbrella once more and pointed it at Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, his voice low and threatening, "Never insult Albus Dumbledore in front of me."
The Dursleys cowered in fear, realising they were no match for the powerful wizard standing before them. Hagrid's eyes blazed with intensity as he made it clear that disrespecting Dumbledore was not an option, as horrid slurping sounds came from behind the normal-sized adults, Dudley sneaking a look from where he was hunched over the box of cake. Hagrid took one look and aimed the umbrella at his bottom, causing a stream of light to come from the tip and hit his backside, a pig's tail erupting as Petunia shrieked loudly at the new appendage Dudley sported. Dudley's screaming soon joined the fray as the Dursleys ran off into the next room, past an impressed Harry, who couldn't help but laugh at the chaos they left behind.
Looking back, Hagrid was rolling his eyes before pulling out a pocket watch and checking it. "I'd, er, I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention that at Hogwarts. Strictly speaking, I'm not allowed to use magic."
Harry nodded as Hagrid turned to leave, saying that he had things to do and lots to buy. Just one push and the door fell out of the frame that had been keeping it up, and the storm out before he turned to Harry, "Unless you'd rather stay, of course."
Muffled sounds echoed from the other room as Harry Potter looked back, looked to Hagrid, and decided on his fate.
Elsewhere,
"I'M ADOPTED?!"
The shriek could have woken the dead as a young boy stared at his parents and sister. 11-year-old Danny Fenton held three pieces of paper as he stood in front of the TV, his eyes threatening to glow a vivid green as he processed the life-changing information. His whole world had just been turned upside down in an instant, and he knew nothing would ever be the same again.
Mr and Mrs Fenton had tried to gently break this news to their son earlier that day, but the ghost attack on the elementary school had proven difficult if it had not been for Phantom's intervention. As Danny's grip tightened on the papers, he felt a surge of emotions coursing through him—conflict, anger, and fear—before the television screen sparked and the light bulbs blew above them, leaving the family in shadow.
"Danny," Maddie tried to comfort her son, stalling when green eyes flashed when they should have been blue. Her hands going up, she tried again, "Danny, the fact that we adopted you does not change that you're our son, and we love you more than anything in this world. Please, believe me.
"We don't know where you appeared from, but," Maddie took her son's arms and faced him towards her, her red goggles coming up and over her head as she took the hood off and continued, "We found you on our doorstep the morning after Halloween, bundled up in a blanket and crying with a fresh cut where your scar is. There was a letter explaining that your birth parents had just been killed and that we were chosen to raise you away from any dangers that might have followed you here. For years, we kept a lookout for any strangers arriving in Amity, but we couldn't leave our work as much as we wanted to move away to protect both you and Jazz.
"It was a difficult decision to keep the truth from you, but as you grew older, we watched you and Jazz bond like true siblings, and we knew that our decision to keep you both safe had been the right one. But now that you are old enough to understand, we felt it was time to finally tell you the truth about your past and the reason for our secrecy. We hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive us and understand the difficult choices we had to make to ensure your safety."
Danny looked at his mother with tears tracking down his face as she finished speaking and pointed to the envelope, saying, "Now, let's hear what the letter has to say."
1652 words?!
Wow. I wanted to get as much in this chapter as I could from memory. I may have also cheated and used a bit from the First Harry Potter movie when Harry does find out. Thats why Petunia was going on the way she was. But hey, Harry now knows what happened to his parents and that he has a brother.
I might change the summary a bit though. It's not going the way it should be but hey, creative license and boredom tend to get in the way of the plot.
As for Danny's outburst, well, wouldn't you shout if you found out that the parents who raised you told you that you were adopted? I mean, I'm adopted but I was adopted when I was 8 years old so I've always known. Unless I get memory loss, that's a core memory for me. But enough backstory, I'm gonna try to think of a better summary for Psychic Bonds so watch this space.
Hermione